Bud Selig

As the head of a major sports league, you’re the person fans, players, and officials depend on to make the big decisions. Unfortunately, sometimes those big decisions backfire, and the backlash is so great, the embarrassment seems insurmountable.

However, sometimes you make majorly stupid decisions that define your career. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Major League Baseball and their commissioner, Bud Selig. What follows are five reasons I believe that Bud Selig will go down in history as the worst commissioner in sports:

It has been brought up countless times, By owners and fans alike, "The MLB needs a salary cap."  

Every year the argument is renewed, and with five of the eight teams that made the playoffs this year having payrolls over $100 million and of course with the much maligned New York Yankees money machine taking home the Commisioner's Trophy the cries of foul play seem as loud as ever.

Two questions: "Will it make us money?" and "Will it increase ticket sales?"

These appear to be the only considerations Bud Selig makes in any situation he presides over as commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB). Has he ever taken a principled stand?

It was unofficially announced last night that Major League Baseball will only be using umpires with previous World Series experience for the Fall Classic this season.

The move comes as a result of numerous botched calls throughout the first two rounds of the postseason.

ESPN’s Amy K. Nelson reports that the departing head of the Major League Baseball Players Association, Donald Fehr, will receive an $11 million dollar severance package from the players.                                   

Dear Bud,

      The season was memorable, but the World Series needs to change. The game has never been healthier, but not for fans. It's your job to fix it...

There's one thing in Major League Baseball that it tries to hang on to, and that is the human element of the game. This means there are going to be missed calls on the field, and fans just have to accept it.

The NBA, NHL, and NFL all have adapted with the technology and have approved the use of replay in certain situations. In fact, the NFL has the most plays that can be reviewed.

In 1933 at the World's Fair in Chicago, an event was held at Comiskey Park. The best of the best from all across the American League and National League gathered for an unprecedented exhibition game...an All Star Game. 

The result was a sweeping success that it became part of the baseball season each year, scheduled for midsummer. 

The Midsummer Classic provided fans a unique opportunity to see the best and brightest from either league competing against one another, an opportunity that could only have taken place in the World Series. 

Who out there still thinks Major League Baseball is genuinely troubled by steroids and performance-enhancing drugs?

I hope not too many hands are being raised.

Don't get me wrong—MLB knows it has a problem on its hands and PEDs are the source, but the suits only believe the issue to be skin-deep. It's a matter of public relations damage control and nothing else.

Spin.

Moral obligation to society? Ethical duty to protect the record books?

How about health? Sanctity? The kids? Surely you can't be serious.

I don't need to tell anyone that the economy is in ruins right now. Teams all over professional sports are seeing their season ticket renewal numbers sliding south and their merchandise sales stagnant at best.

In baseball, the rumor mills are full of hot items about teams in small and middle markets looking to unload any contract of length or substance as early as the beginning of June (Jake Peavy) for the sake of saving their bottom line.

Fans just aren't spending the money this year.